About 1 million of the estimated 8 million plastic disks that washed out of a wastewater treatment plant in Hooksett have been picked up off Massachusetts beaches, environmental officials said.

There's no firm number how many of the disks have been cleaned off New Hampshire shores. The affected communities have said they want Hooksett to foot the bill for the cleanup, and Hooksett officials said the town is ready to take on that responsibility.

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Bruce Kudrick, superintendent of the Hooksett wastewater plant, said the system was supposed to make the Merrimack River cleaner, but instead, it dumped the disks into the river during heavy rainfall two weeks ago.

Kudrick said workers are still trying to determine why the disks washed away. The disks are used to encourage the growth of bacteria that can help process waste materials.

"We are in contact with the company, Krueger, to find out why the media -- these small disks -- collected onto these screens and actually plugged the flow from getting out," he said.

Kudrick said Hooksett is working to deal with the cleanup costs.

"We are responsible," he said. "We are in contact with our insurance company, and that's where we have gotten so far."

Environmental officials in Massachusetts said cleanup could take months. As of Thursday, Hooksett had learned of 19 communities in the Bay State that had found the disks, and by Monday, Massachusetts officials said there were more.

"Unfortunately, the disks have shown up as far away as not only Newburyport and Plum Island, l but they have migrated down to Revere, and we expect the movement will continue," said Rick Sullivan, Massachusetts secretary of energy.

Kudrick said that, in New Hampshire, the disks have been found in Hudson, as well as Seabrook and Hampton.

Hooksett has spent $130,000 on a contractor to organize the cleanup, he said.

"For every 5-gallon can picked up, there's 2,000 disks, approximately," Kudrick said. "They are trying to get a count on this, and hopefully by the end of the week, they will have a count on how many they picked up so far."

Environmental officials in both states said they hope to have everything cleaned up in time for the summer beach season. On Monday, the Seabrook beach reopened after being temporarily closed as a precaution.